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St. Mary’s honored for heart, pneumonia care

St. Mary’s Hospital and Medical Center has received a national award recognizing the value and efficiency of its services.

The Leapfrog Group announced Thursday that St. Mary’s was one of 13 hospitals in the nation to receive its Highest Value Hospital designation, based on a review of more than 1,200 hospitals across the country.

St. Mary’s earned the award based on its combination of quality and resource utilization for coronary bypass graft procedures, percutaneous coronary intervention procedures, treatment of acute myocardial infarction and care for pneumonia, according to the Leapfrog Group.

St. Mary’s had a top score in three of the four areas.

To receive a top score, St. Mary’s exhibited quality in treating those conditions or using those procedures without using unnecessary resources, said Leah Binder, chief executive officer of Leapfrog.

“Quality and prudent resource use must go hand-in-hand if this nation is ever going to fix its
broken health care system,” Binder added.

St. Mary’s is the largest hospital between Denver and Salt Lake City.

The Leapfrog Group was founded in 2000 and works for improvements in safety, quality and affordability for health care in America.

The group made its announcement with the Colorado Business Group on Health, based in Denver. Donna Marshall, executive director of the Business Group on Health, said there were no other Colorado hospitals to make the highest value list, and she commended St. Mary’s on being able to treat patients well without spending excess money on unnecessary methods.